What are you doing this Saturday night?  Please support us! Tell your friends!

Come along to our P&C Fundraiser for a great night of Comedy with comedians from Melbourne!

The event will be held at the Gympie & District Indoor Bowls Hall in Graham Street. Doors open at 6pm and the show starts at 7.30pm.

 We will be serving Drinks in our bar and Wildwood BBQ will be there with their food van.

Tickets are $35 each and available from comedyforacause.net/GSSPC

All monies raised from this event will be going towards a new Toyota Hi-Ace wheelchair converted van for our students to use in engaging in our community. The new van will be able to be driven by any staff member with a C class license enabling us to have much more flexibility with our community engagement and learning. 

I would like to extend a very warm Gympie Special School welcome to our new Deputy Principal Phil! Phil is an experienced Special School educator and comes to us with a depth of Special education knowledge, great leadership skills, and expertise in positive behaviour management. Phil has hit the ground running and our staff and students are quickly getting to know Mr Phil as he supports them throughout their days.

Our Head of Curriculum Shellie Pursey, has made the difficult decision to take a position at a school closer to home. Shellie has been travelling to Gympie from Maryborough since January 2020. With the continual roadworks, traffic accidents, delays and trucks she is often travelling for almost 3 hours a day which is no longer sustainable for her or her family. Her job has been advertised, and we will be interviewing shortly. I will introduce our new HOD-C to you as soon as possible.

Shellie has been an invaluable asset to our school. Her depth of curriculum knowledge (especially for students requiring a highly individualised curriculum), her friendly, approachable manner and her skills in developing, and embedding processes within our school has made an enormous difference to our staff capability, our improvement journey and most importantly, the outcomes of our students. When I think back to October 2019, when I first arrived at our school and reflect on the progress our students, and staff, have been able to achieve, I know that without Shellie’s support we would not be in the terrific position we are currently in.  We wish Shellie all the best in her new role at Maryborough Special School.

We had some terrific results at the recent District Athletic trials. Well done to all of our students who competed. In week 2, we sent a team of soccer players up to Maryborough to compete in the All-Abilities Football Gala Day. Our team did very well and really enjoyed competing against other schools.

Before we know it, our Year 12 students will have graduated and left school for their post school life. Our Year 12’s graduate on Friday 17^th of November. With only 6 weeks left of this term and only 7 weeks of schooling next term for our Year 12s (WOW!) we are working together to make sure our students are as ready as possible for this next step in their lives. Many of these students are currently accessing work experience and we will be supporting our families to meet with Disability employment support agencies to plan their next adventure.

Thank you!

I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank our teachers, teacher aides, school support staff, cleaners, parents and carers for their warm welcome.

It has been a pleasure to undertake the Deputy Principal position at GSS and it is unbelievable that we are already into week four. It has been fantastic to witness the dedication our whole GSS staff provide to our students in order to foster safety and deep educational experiences.

In the first 4 weeks of this term, we have been focussing on putting new processes in place within our Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL). Ensuring we listen to our school community we have identified priority areas and look forward to analysing data, setting goals and providing professional development to help best support teachers in providing our students with differentiated and inclusive school experiences.

Finally, we have our school community P&C fundraising event ‘Comedy for a Cause’ this Saturday 5^th August. I am looking forward to a great night full of laughter, great food and meeting new people while raising much needed funds towards our school.

Hope to see you there

Phil

Activities over the coming weeks

Over the coming weeks there are a few activities happening that are not only learning for our students, but are super fun! Bookweek next week is an event I look forward to every year, dressing up the library and ourselves is always fun, and the decorating of classroom doors always sparks students to invite visitors!

We also have Aunty Christine visiting to run a Gubbi Gubbi language and cultural workshop for our Primary and Secondary students. These workshops are always interactive and staff and students enjoy attending to learn new Gubbi Gubbi words and songs to practice.

RSPCA will be visiting our Senior students with some cute and cuddly animals to talk about what the RSPCA is all about, and how to volunteer and support the program. The Senior Girl’s Group have been working with Chappy Rachel to raise funds in a variety of ways to support the RSPCA.

Proud!

I must say just how proud I am of the journey that our school has had since my arrival in January 2020. Our teaching and learning practices are not only aligned to the Australian Curriculum and QCIA, but the curriculum is being delivered to every student at the level they are working at and student engagement in the classroom every day is very evident. Every student is achieving, and this just makes me feel an immense amount of pride for our school community.

It is a very bittersweet week for me, as this is my final week at Gympie Special School ☹. As many of you know, I have been commuting daily from Maryborough for almost 4 years. With the increasing roadworks to the Bruce Highway, and my growing family, I made the very difficult decision to apply for a job at Maryborough Special School. I was successful in my application and start next week. I do feel like the Gympie Special School community has become my family, and I thank each and every member of our community for accepting and welcoming me, I will miss you all dearly. The bittersweet part of the situation is that my new school is literally across the road from my home, I will have more time with my family and most importantly for myself. I will think of you often, and I will definitely be keeping in touch on our school Facebook page, and in person from time -time. So, this is not a good-bye, but a see ya later!

Keep up the awesomeness

Signing off until next time

Shellie

There has been a lot of activity around the school during the holidays and in the first three weeks of term. Work commenced on the refurbishment of the amenities in the Secondary block. This improvement is part of the School's Strategic Infrastructure Plan and it is envisaged that works on this new facility will be finalised approximately mid term. The air conditioning upgrade in the Performing Arts building has now been completed under the Cooler Cleaner Schools Program. You may also notice that our electronic school sign is now operational. We thank our wonderful P & C for their contribution to our school sign! Decking repairs were also completed during the holidays, with a new modwood decking ramp installed next to the Primary classrooms.

Early Years 1 have had a flying start to the term. They have settled back into school routines quickly. Our class has been practising following directions and using positional language eg. Wait next to the door, sit on the bench. We have also been reading texts and answering questions. This week we have read “That’s not my train” and students have been asked question like “where is little mouse sitting?” They are all getting better at trying to answer in full sentences. Our students also get daily practise writing their names on the interactive whiteboard and learning to form letters in their name correctly. They can recognise each others names now and will say who’s turn it is next. This week we planted some native trees in our school garden for National Tree Day. The students enjoyed this immensely. In science we have learning about the forces of push and pull. Mason and Jack enjoyed pushing the cars down the foam ramp. Harry pulled Thomas around the classroom and when asked if he was pushing or pulling Thomas. He said “pulling”. Riding for the Disabled will continue this term and the students have all been practising sitting and waiting on the bench before getting on the bus. They all got an Ardy ticket this week as they all sat and waited beautifully.

Early Years 1 Staff

Cassie, Kelsey and Leanne

The children are having lots of fun while learning about ‘push’ and ‘pull’ in science.  They took turns to push and pull the teddies in the cars. Pushing the match-box cars down the PVC ramp involved counting, taking turns and sharing the cars. These hands-on activities help the children to consolidate the concepts we are learning.

We are excited to watch the children spend more time sitting together in the group during the morning sessions. Learning with and from each other is an important stage of their development.

Our Student of the Week award winners this term are:

Isaiah for responding to requests, such as to come and join in or move to another area.

Ayden: for using words and conventional behaviours, such as directing attention and guiding in a particular direction to request activities.

Dominic received a Silver Ardy Award.

Well done to Rose and Miles for earning their Gold certificates.

We are enjoying reading and feeling our ‘that’s not my ….’ Books the last 3 weeks and have learnt some new describing words about the trucks, trains and cars.

In science the hands-on push and pull activities are enthusiastically engaged with and we are learning to use the word Push, Pull verbally or on Proloquo2Go. 

In Maths we are learning to use the word ‘more’ and ‘less’ and to engage in counting during play. We set up a teddy bears picnic and gave out food and toys by following instructions, such as give the boy more and the teddy less. We then counted how many were in each bowl.

We have also welcomed our new aide Codie to the class and are teaching her our routines and class rules.

Welcome back to Term 3. Things are moving at a fast pace in our class and we have also welcomed our new student, Leni who is has settled in well.

In Literacy we are comparing fiction and non-fiction texts. Over the first few weeks we looked at ‘Piranhas don’t eat Bananas’ and ‘Macca the Alpaca’. The students had a good laugh while watching videos of Alpacas’ spitting habits and we learned that the clown fish is the only fish which could live amongst the poisonous tentacles of an anemone plant because of a jell like liquid on their bodies. Nature is so fantastic!!

In Numeracy we have been looking at number and place value, and how to position ourselves in relation to objects etc.

In Science it’s all about movement, how we move and how we make things move by pushing or pulling objects or people.

We will keep you up to date with new discoveries and things we learn in P2.

Term 3 already feels like it is speeding past quickly, maybe because we have all settled in with our new friends very quickly. Skylah and Danny are really enjoying learning, working and playing together.

 In Maths everyone is enjoying measuring different objects in our rooms with smaller unusual objects. Fun fact our tables are 28 paperclips wide, our window sill is 16 large paddle pop sticks long and Mason is 10 large paddle pop sticks tall.

In English we have really enjoyed comparing some of our imaginative texts to informative texts. A interesting fact about police dogs we learned was that once they are trained, the force of their bite is so great that doctors have said the damage inflicted is as bad as a shark bite! We decided that Police dogs do not have much in common with Hairy Maclary who eventually like to snuggle down for an afternoon snooze with his cuddly friend Zachary Quack. We enjoyed Piranhas don’t eat Bananas this week and are looking forward to discovering information about them next week, piranhas not bananas that is.

We are really enjoying getting to know our Friday teacher who is helping us explore forces like push and pull for science. Our new classmate Daniel is fitting in very well, he is lots of fun and really likes to laugh.

Welcome back, I hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday. This term, we will be looking at comparing fiction and non fiction texts during English. Over the first few weeks we looked at the story pig the pug and various non fiction texts about pugs. Did you know that pugs are one of the oldest breeds of domesticated dogs, dating back to ancient China. In Maths we have been looking at number and place value, Science: how push and pull forces make objects move and technology: toys made from different materials.

This semester, we will focus on our new learning goals.

In English, students have already begun to kow the difference between imaginative and informative texts. They will compare the text structures and language features about places around the world and famous people.

During mathematics, students will explore and engage with number and place value by representing number quantities in different ways. They will also formally and informally use measurement to compare objects’ mass and capacity and use positional language to describe locations.

Science will be a wondrous opportunity for students to investigate the movement of familiar objects, posing questions and sharing their observations with others. They will explore the components of a simple circuit and discover how energy can be transferred in electrical circuits.

More news to come,

Tyson, Hayley, Evie, Declan, Shyanne, Ryan, Mason, Andrea, Kerri, and Deb.

Thank-you to all of the parents who have made the time to come in for their ICP meeting. Those parents who have not yet been able to, please contact me as soon as you can so we can make a time and date to complete your ICP meeting. ICP meetings are an important and compulsory process in your child’s education. It is also a wonderful way for school and families to touch bases and ensure we are working together for the benefit of each individual student.

I have been so impressed with the improved writing skills our students are displaying in their workbooks. I hope parents are more able to read the daily entry into the communication book due to neat and legible writing.

Maths is always fun as we try out the maths newly acquired games related to this semester’s maths program. The favourite so far has been “Popcorn Maths” where the students work with 100 number boards, dice and of course popcorn. The students have fun learning, followed by a happy, popcorn filled lunch break.

In Science we have begun to investigate electrical circuits. Last week we explored static electricity. We picked up little pieces of paper with our statically charged plastic rulers. We also had a hair-raising time with glove balloons. Poor Miss Janet looked like a crazy haired lady by the end of the lesson.

Thank you to parents for supplying some additional stationary for this semester. All of the equipment was put to use immediately. We all look forward to a fabulous 2^nd half of the 2023 school year.

We have literally hit the ground running, during the first few weeks back at school this semester.

Our literacy program explores informative and imaginative texts about famous people and places. We have started off looking at Australian famous places, such as, Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, The Great Barrier Reef and the Outback. Imaginative texts that describe these areas were read and compared with the language and text structures and features of the informative texts. These included: Wanita’s Walkabout, The Great Barrier Thief and Tom the Outback Mailman. Our current book is Meet Nellie Melba, where some of us are looking at timelines in her life and the topic specific vocabulary, nouns, verbs and adjectives found in the text. A few of us have stated that we aren’t that interested in opera music!

In maths, we have been working with positional maps and location, learning the language to describe where objects are in the room in relation to us and looking at simple maps and following given pathways. We have also been practising our counting and using concrete materials to learn about place value, then representing these on the number line.

Last Friday, we all enthusiastically took part in and celebrated Plant a Tree Day.

Yours sincerely till next time,

Libby, Tegan, Kelly, Jas, Darren, Tommy, Braydan, Tahlia, Zane, Henry, Ray, Peter, Angelina, Savannah, Marcus, Gorgia and Jed.

Welcome back, everyone!
The students have settled into their routines quickly and seem to be happy back at school. Term Three is based around some new electives and many opportunities to be in the community. We believe that a well-rounded education includes not only academic growth but also opportunities for social interaction and personal development.

Maths in the community
We are excited to share with you the success of our recent Bunnings Sausage Sizzle fundraiser event, organised by P&C president, Juanita, and our Senior Students. We are thrilled to have raised over one thousand dollars for Gympie Special School! The event was not only a great fundraising opportunity but also provided students with valuable real-life skills. They had the chance to work with real money, design the fundraiser sign thanks to Tylor, greet customers, and take orders. It was a fantastic learning experience for students.

Jasmine enjoyed serving customers, Maddie thrived in the fast-paced environment, Mia appreciated the work environment, and Grace found joy in raising money. The students thanked our teacher aides, Michelle and Chrissie, who played a significant role in ensuring the success of the day. Their support and assistance were greatly appreciated.

We received positive feedback from the community, who recognised the importance of such events for our students. They appreciated the opportunity for students to develop practical skills and gain work experience.

Hospitality
Students now have the chance to dive into the world of hospitality, gaining valuable skills and experiences that will empower them in life beyond-school. Through a specially designed program, the students will have the opportunity to explore various aspects of the hospitality industry. From learning about food preparation and presentation to understanding customer service and teamwork, the unity will provide practical skills and foster a sense of independence and confidence among the students.

Students will be able to work closely with staff from I Can Café, the new disability cafe in Gympie.  
By introducing students to the world of hospitality, we are not only equipping them with practical skills but also opening doors to future employment opportunities.

Sport in the Community

This semester we are accessing sports in the community. The aim of this unit is to make the students aware of what sporting groups and facilities are available within the local community looking forward to post school options.

Today we went to Gympie Hockey Field and Ben gave us a beginner’s lesson in Hockey. The students had a great time and learnt some new skills. From next week through to the end of term, the students will be participating in activities at Ariel Dreaming Circus School. We can’t wait!!

Market Garden

The Senior Students in our Market Garden program have been flat out planting and bedding in their new seedlings. The vegetables from last term have reached maturity and are ready for harvest with the first crop of silver beet picked by our happy gardeners this morning.

We give a huge thank you to Bunnings Gympie for their support of this program and their kind donation of vegetable seedlings and a new raised garden bed. We now have a wide variety of vegetables to raise and the students can learn new skills and enjoy the positive feelings of growing your own food.

COMMUNICATION WITH TEACHERS
- For all work experience inquiries, please contact co-ordinator Kate Laing at kelai0@eq.edu.au or 5480 2333.
- Communication books.
- Teacher Emails Kate - kelai0@eq.edu.au, Liz - lgran64@eq.edu.au, Gavin - gisaa4@eq.edu.au, and Nicky - nmfly0@eq.edu.au.
- School phone number 5480 2333 to leave a message, and we will reply as soon as possible.

Wishing you all a fantastic Term Three ahead!

The Senior Secondary Team.

During technology for Semester 2 2023, students are exploring concepts of design when working with technology.  In particular, students will investigate and explore how technologies use forces to create movement in a variety of ways and how various materials used can affect the performance of products. Each week students will make simple toys that use various types of propulsion.  During the first three weeks students made balloon cannons, straw rockets, then stomp rockets.  In the coming weeks they will make cars and flying things that are powered by rubber bands, pulled strings and balloons. Needless to say, most students look forward to technology each week – and so does Mr Andrew.

The communication team have been busy preparing for the whole staff communication training. The team will highlight the importance of supporting ALL our student with their communication all day, everyday. Staff will watch some videos of students communicating using various modes of communication devices such as PODD and Proloquo2go. Staff will then participate in a variety of hands on activities to practise what they have learnt.

Workshops for staff continue this term and focus on augmentative alternative communication (AAC) and also train them in using specific devices. Last week a general AAC workshop was held and our next workshop will focus on Proloquo2go to train staff that have students who use Proloquo2go in their classrooms.

The school will soon have new Group PODDS for every classroom which will enhance communication through the classroom and curriculum.

Over the past four weeks our students have been recognised and praised for making positive behaviour choices by receiving 'Ardy Awards' and 'silver' and 'gold' student of the week certificates in our Monday parade.

Our Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) focuses over the next three weeks are:

Week 5: I am a learner - I am ready to work

Week 6: I am Respectful - I wait quietly for adults

Week 7: I am a learner - I try my best and have a go

We are currently looking for a parent/community representative to be a vital member within our PBL Committee at GSS. This facilitates a community voice within our school to add a parent voice to our behaviour approaches and processes.

If this is something that may interest you, please email the Deputy Principal, Phil Whatt on pwhat0@eq.edu.au

For the Arts this semester Primary and Secondary students are studying music.  In this unit we are focussing on discovering the many ways we can move to music, body percussion, rhythm and dynamics ie. loud and soft.   The students are also exploring songs they enjoy and working toward choosing one they can perform a part of to their group later in the year.

Using the microphone to sing has been a big hit and lots of fun.  Some very confidant efforts already.

Miss Sue

We have been very busy at Gympie Special over the past few weeks. As some of you may be aware a team of 7 boys and girls went away to play in an all abilities soccer gala day held up in Maryborough. The students who went demonstrated a great sense of school pride and tried their best all day. Although by the end of the day after playing 5 games the students came away with smiles on their faces (although a little weary in the legs).

Also, in sports news, many of our students participated in the Gympie District Athletics trails held down at Albert Park. Once again, the students who participated gave their all in both the track and field events and behaved in a manner that was a great representation of our school.

Some of these students will now have the opportunity to participate in the upcoming Wide Bay Zone trials being held up in Bundaberg with the 13-19 years being held on Monday and Tuesday (28^th-29^th of August) and the 10-12 years being held on Wednesday (30^th of August).

I look forward to reporting how these students go.

Until next time.

It has been a busy start to the term.

During second break on Thursdays, I am now playing with cardboard boxes with children from the Early Years classes. This has been a great way for myself, the children, and other staff members to connect with each other. We have had lots of fun building towers and knocking them over, laughing together, and talking about what we are doing. Unfortunately, photos don’t do this activity justice, as it is very difficult to take photos while playing! A special thanks to staff members and others who have donated boxes.

The sensory garden is now ready for everyone to enjoy. I am grateful to the Secondary Girls’ Group girls, teacher Cassandra Perry, Schools Officer Bill, and others for helping make this project happen.

This term, as a school community, we are helping out RSPCA. In the past year, 45 043 animals have arrived at an RSPCA Queensland centre. Their Animal Ambulance rescued 28 177 sick, injured or trapped animals, while others ended up at shelters because their owners could no longer care for them. Thankfully, between 2012 and 2022, 683 024 animals across Australia were rehomed, reunited with their owners, or released back into the wild.

We are currently putting together a hamper for the RSPCA Gympie shelter. You can help by donating:

• Kitty litter (recycled paper and pellet types)
• Towels and blankets (not feather doonas)
• Old pillows and stuffed toys
• Dog and cat wet food cans
• Dog treats (e.g. Schmackos, Dentastix).

Please bring your donations to the school office by next Tuesday (1 August).

On Thursday 17 August, we will be holding an RSPCA Cupcake Day. The Secondary Girls’ Group and I are currently busy baking and icing 120 cupcakes, which will be available for a gold-coin donation. More information will be provided soon.

Just a friendly reminder to please DO NOT park/stop in resident's driveways at anytime.  The Gympie Regional Council will be stepping up patrols and issuing fines to those who are illegally parked. Also, please do not turn right out of the transport zone. Thank you.